Tears of Hope

             "The only thing they have to look forward to is hope.  And you have to give them hope.  Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great. Hope that all will be all right.  Without hope, not only gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the us'es, the us'es will give up."  -Harvey Milk

Yesterday was my birthday, but I didn't spend it in any kind of usual way.  I was thinking of Harvey Milk's famous words about hope.  I even looked up that speech and read it all the way through once again.  We need hope to go on.  How often have I talked about that here?  We need heroes.  We need good.  We need to see a light at the end of the tunnel.  Sometimes that can be difficult. Each morning I write here about hope or things that give us hope. I write about the heroes. I write about making a difference. Does it do any good. Are we better off today than when I first started writing here nearly thirteen years ago? Yesterday was my birthday, but I really didn't feel like partying.

Racism, transphobia, COVID-19, climate change, lack of health care, dissatisfaction with the government, all kinds of hate- the list goes on and on.  When I hear of friends being beaten or chased down the street, JUST FOR BEING WHO THEY ARE, I wonder about this thing called hope.  When I see a woman being arrested for simply being "too loud" on her own porch, I am sickened.  When I see that another amazing performer has died as a result of cancer, I wonder if we ever have a cure.  When I see folks living in mansions and others lying homeless in the streets, I can't help but think that this is just not right.  So many - perhaps most, of the country's problems can be easily solved if we work together.  I still hope for that, but along the way I am shedding a lot of tears.

I simply won't accept the hatred and the abuse that has spread from coast to coast.  Some of it has been around forever.  That doesn't make it right though.  Hate is never right.  Why should you hate someone because they are Black or because they are gay or because they are transgender or because they are Asian?  I don't get it.  It doesn't make sense.  Does anyone agree?  Will you commit yourself to doing something?  

Celebration should have been yesterday's theme, but there is less and less to celebrate.  Thanks to my sister, to my friends Jason and Dinah, and thanks to all who sent e-cards and messages on social media.  I really appreciate it.  Please do one more thing though - and this would be the greatest birthday present of all.  Please care about others.  Please end the violence.  Please end the hate.  Please fix our broken climate.  Let's do it!